A few years later, astronomers noticed markings that seemed to be connected in a system that covered the whole planet. These markings were dubbed “canals” and were believed to be just that by many of the foremost astronomers of the time. Italian astronomer Schiaparelli was first to note the canals in the early 1890s and other astronomers began to notice them as well.
American astronomer Percival Lowell, who built one of the best observatories in the world in Flagstaff, Arizona, became obsessed with the canals, drew detailed maps of them and worried that the Martians were fighting a losing battle on a dying planet.
Something like canals exist, there can be no doubt. What they are is anybody’s guess. Considering the great variety of canals on the Martian surface, it was believed by some that the Martians were trying to signal us and plans were suggested for planting mid-western crops in patterns by way of acknowledging the communication. (The first crop circles?)
In the 1910 issue of “Nature,” astronomer James Worthington, after visiting Lowell at his observatory in Flagstaff, commented, “As to the deductions which Dr. Lowell had drawn from his observations I have nothing to say except that the startlingly artificial and geometrical appearance of the markings did force itself upon me.”
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